(c) baron cohen et al Flashcards
psychology investigated
social sensitivity, theory of mind
theory of mind
the ability to determine mental states in ourselves and others
social sensitivity
how effectively someone can identify, understand, and respect someone else’s feelings and views in social interaction
what is the autism spectrum characterised by
- challenges in social skills
- difficulty in communicating
- lack of imaginative abilities
what’s the significance of the ‘Sally Anne task’
designed to asses theory of mind abilities in children
what is mindblindness
the inability to understand others intentions (often associated with autism)
describe the ORIGINAL eyes test (1997)
- 25 questions
- 2 options
- basic emotions (always semantic opposites, eg happy or sad)
- no glossary
problems with the ORIGINAL eyes test
- questions were too easy
- unclear if the ppts understood the vocab used
- ceiling effect –> many neurotypical adults scored top marks, making it difficult to identify individual differences
- mainly female faces, could lead to bias
what changes were made in the REVISED eyes test
- 25 –> 36 questions (1 practice)
- 2 –> 4 options
- added more complex emotions
- easy questions were removed
- equal no. of male and female faces
- added a glossary
aims
- to identify if the revised eyes test could detect deficits in HFA/AS adults
- to identify if there was a negative correlation between neurotypical ppts eyes test scores and AQ scores
- to identify if there was female superiority
characteristics of group 1,
how was group 1 selected,
what tests did they do
- 15 HFA/AS adult males
- volunteer sampling (through autistic magazines and support groups)
- eyes test, IQ, AQ
characteristics of group 2,
how was group 2 selected,
what tests did they do
- 122 neurotypical adults (male and female)
- all with different education and employment
- opportunity sampling (from adult education classes and public libraries)
- eyes test
characteristics of group 3,
how was group 3 selected,
what tests did they do
- 103 neurotypical adults (male and female)
- assumed high IQ
- opportunity sampling (from Cambridge university (all mostly science majors))
- eyes test, AQ
characteristics of group 4,
how was group 4 selected,
what tests did they do
- 14 neurotypical adult males
- same IQ as group 1 (HFA/AS)
- random sampling from the general population
- eyes test, IQ, AQ
experimental design
independent measures
IVs and DVs
type of experiment
data collection methods
IVs: ppt groups and sex
DVs: eyes test scores, IQ scores, AQ scores
- lab experiment
- self report questionnaires and computerised tests
results
- HFA/AS group identify significantly fewer target words than the other group
- males scored higher in AQ scores in group 3
- females scored higher in the eyes test in group 2 and 3
- HFA/AS group scored significantly higher on AQ test than groups 3 or 4
correlations
- negative correlation between AQ score and eyes test score
- no correlation between eyes test and IQ
- no correlation between AQ and IQ
conclusions
- the REVISED eyes test is a more sensitive measure of social intelligence than the ORIGINAL version
- can be used to detect subtle differences between neurotypical individuals
- IQ and eyes test do not correlate, suggesting that social intelligence and non-social intelligence are independent
strengths
weaknesses
ethical issues
applications to daily life
nature-nurture
individual-situational
